Incompatible Compatibility
by Patzy
Summary: Lovina Vargas and Antonio Carriedo decided to break up after six months of dating. While on their separate ways, they take a look at the ups and downs of their former relationship and wonder if their relationship was all that it seemed to be. Will they be able to rekindle the spark in their relationship or will they end up as exes? HumanAU!
1. Incompatible Mood

**Incompatible Compatibility**

 **\- 1 -**

Lovina Vargas happily tossed her bag beside her tomato-patterned bean bag and rushed into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and took the ice cream she had been saving all week. Normally, she watched what she eats at home. Her family values healthy living and junk foods such as ice cream were rarely allowed in the house. Lovina let out a snicker - she had the house all to herself and she could eat whatever she wanted. She went into the living room, placed the ice cream beside her bag and opened the television.

Normally, she'd be out on a day like this with her boyfriend. _Ex-boyfriend_. Lovina mentally corrected herself as she settled down and tinkered with the remote control. Not along after, her foul mood was replaced with eagerness as she browsed through the available movies and series. When she spotted the drama series she had been dying to watch, she pressed play and watched the opening credits.

Lovina kept her eyes peeled on the screen as she grabbed for the ice cream. She opened the ice cream as she watched the main characters on the screen. This was what single women do - watch and fantasize about other people's romances. Watching other people's relationship, whether fictional or real, was more entertaining. Being the main character in a relationship wasn't that of an enjoyable experience. It's not all fun and games once you've taken the actual role itself.

It's not fun.

Lovina frowned. In fact, she had one word to define her overall recent romantic experience:

 _Horrible._

That was the word that Lovina could describe as to how her last relationship went. Her ex-boyfriend was Antonio Carriedo, one of the popular guys in school. Their six month relationship had been stressful for both of them. They frequently broke into fights and would have misunderstandings. A week ago, she finally had enough and told him that she wanted them to go on their separate ways.

And so they did.

To begin with, it was an impossible match. She was introverted, had low self-esteem and prickly. He was extraverted, had high self-esteem and nice towards other people. He was charming, whereas she wasn't and tend to drive people away. To sum it up, he was the nice popular guy while she was the unapproachable loner.

He's not all that great, though.

Beneath the exterior of the seemingly perfect popular guy, Antonio also had his flaws. His ultimate flaw was that he was immensely slow in understanding the vibe of certain situations. Lovina grimaced as she remember that time they were out on a dinner date. They happened to run into the people who tormented her in the past. They weren't making her life miserable as of the late, but that didn't mean that Lovina wanted their company, much less see them. They probably didn't remember her, given that the bullying she experienced from them was from their childhood, but Lovina could still remember how they ridiculed and publicly humiliated her. They still invoked unpleasant memories and Lovina wanted none of that while she was trying to enjoy their date.

But stupid Antonio was apparently friends with those people and called them over.

Antonio introduced them to her and proudly told those people that she was his girlfriend. They seemed genuinely happy for both us and gave Lovina a friendly greeting. She feigned ignorance and mechanically greeted them. Throughout their conversation with those people, Lovina gave short replies and avoided joining their conversation. Antonio didn't notice her change of behavior as he kept on talking to them.

As for those people, they didn't make indications that they remembered Lovina. The fact that she was the only one who bore the weight of that one sided loathing completely ruined Lovina's mood for the remainder of their date.

Antonio's friends (aka. Lovina's former tormentors) stayed at Antonio and Lovina's table for a couple of minutes and left when their food was being served at their own table. Antonio finished his food, while Lovina just finished half of hers. Worriedly, Antonio asked if she didn't like the food that was served there and Lovina just gave him the full force of her glare.

Stupid, clueless Antonio.

Lovina dipped her spoon on the large tub of ice cream and snuggled into the comfort of her bean bag. She reminded herself to focus on the drama series instead of reminiscing of the past. After all, she didn't have time to watch any series back when she was dating.

After all, the idiot would always bring her home late whenever they dated.

Antonio was the type to get so immersed in what he was doing that he'd overdo it at some point. He would call it as being "freedom", but Lovina calls it as being single-minded. He always had done things at his own pace whenever, wherever he wanted. It was hard not to get sucked into his pace, especially when he's being cheerful about it.

Lovina's face cracked into a small smile at a sudden memory she recalled.

As they were going back home from one of their usual dates, Antonio suddenly took the wrong way home. They were on a day trip and it was about early afternoon when they were on the road going home. On that particular day, they both had to go home in order to do the rest of their school work. While searching for familiar roads to turn to, they came across a field of tomatoes. Lovina was opposed to the idea of having stopovers, but he insisted on dropping by to check the tomato field.

As much as Lovina wanted to do the very same thing, she knew that Antonio had a certain fixation on tomatoes. They both loved tomatoes, but the guy took his obsession into a whole new level. Antonio insisted on, flashing his puppy eyes to his girlfriend. It wasn't everyday that he'd ask favors like this from her. Lovina begrudgingly agreed to his request.

To Antonio's delight, the tomato field was in fact a famous tourist spot. It was a tomato farm where people frequented to pick tomatoes. The tomatoes in the area were of high quality and were grown using organic farming, thus it was sought after by many people. There were also a lot of stalls near the tomato farm that sold various tomato products.

A simple "checking" of a tomato field turned into a full blown tomato harvest extravaganza. They ended up spending the entire afternoon harvesting tomatoes and buying tomato products. Antonio did most of the shopping, while Lovina mostly followed him around the area.

Instead of arriving early evening, Lovina reached her home by ten in the evening. The experience exhausted her, leaving her with no energy to do her homework. She also got scolded by her grandfather for returning beyond her curfew. Despite that, she knew she also had fun…

Was their relationship all that horrible?

Lovina absentmindedly took a scoop of the ice cream, but nary a drop of the dairy product was scooped. To her surprise, she managed to finish the entire tub within half an hour. She also managed to finish an entire episode of the series without even focusing on it. Lovina grumbled as she placed the empty tub of ice cream on a nearby table and revisited the episode. She crossed her legs and watched the opening credits of the show. She shook her head - nothing was going to happen if she kept on thinking about her ex-boyfriend. She had to move on and re-live the joys of being single.

Besides, thinking about that idiot has already had its effect on her.

Stupid Antonio, making her so absentminded these days.

 **End of the Chapter**

 **A/N: Hi guys. It's been a looooong time since I've written a fanfic. As in a looong time. I've only recently read fanfics so I'm not sure if I regressed with my storytelling skills. Once again, please bear with my amateur writing skills. With that said, reviews are always appreciated.**


	2. Incompatible Actions

**Incompatible Compatibility**

 **\- 2 -**

It has been a month ever since he and Lovina Vargas broke up.

Things have been more or less normal for the past few weeks. Antonio Carriedo had more time for himself and his friends. Unlike before, he could now spend hours just playing computer games with his friends without worrying about his girlfriend's wrath.

 _Ex-girlfriend._

He shook his head at the thought and redirected his focus towards what he was doing right now. Antonio let out a low hum of excitement as he opened his newly bought game. After he removed the plastic wrapping from the CD, he called the attention of his closest friends Gilbert Beilschmidt and Francis Bonnefoy.

They were having their weekly gaming session and it was his turn to "host" this week's game night. In response to his call, both men emerged from the kitchen holding a large bowl of tortilla chips and a jar of salsa. Antonio gestured them to sit on the couch as he set up the console.

"Did you guys make the salsa right this time?" Antonio teased his friends as he sat on the couch, holding a controller.

"Don't worry, I watched Gil make the salsa this time." Francis reassured him as he placed the bowl on the table beside the couch.

"What? I just sneezed and accidentally added a little bit of pepper." Gilbert grumbled as he took one of the controllers.

"You call that a little bit? The salsa practically resembled the soil after you literally spilled all of my pepper on it!" Francis pointed out.

Although he was upset with their break-up, Antonio wasn't as emotionally distraught as he thought he would be. Instead, here he was laughing at his friends' argument about salsa. He knew was fine for the most part, but he did pick up some unwanted quirks.

Ever since their break up, he would notice the smallest things that reminded him of Lovina. It wasn't like him at all to be so sensitive of his environment. Normally, he'd just focus on one or two things and he'd just (unintentionally) block out other things that seemed to not matter. Recently, he'd be distracted from what he was supposed to be doing and focus on other insignificant things.

Because of that, he seemed more preoccupied with his thoughts. His increased internal monologues had gotten Antonio in heaps of trouble. During classes, he would be called out by the teacher for not listening in class. He even failed one major test because he put the answers at the wrong places.

"By the way 'Tonio, Fran told me that you flunked your chemistry midterms." Gilbert said absentmindedly as he played.

"...Don't remind me of that, please." Antonio grumbled as he attempted to focus on playing.

"It'll be a bummer if you failed. Did you fail or not?"

"I was allowed to take remedial classes and I'll be retaking another test next week."

"By the way, did you already tell Gil about your little incident two days ago?" Francis asked as he dipped his tortilla chip into the salsa.

"Not now Franny!" Antonio whined. To his dismay, his in-game character got caught by the enemy. "Look at what you did!" He gave his friend an accusing look while the said friend just laughed along with Gilbert.

"What incident? He's had a lot of incidents lately." Gilbert smirked.

"He mistook some other girl as Lovina at the mall. Some people saw and were talking about it in class." Francis gave Antonio a look.

Antonio gave his friends a light punch on their shoulders. It was true...he did have a fair share of embarrassing stories outside their school as well. Once, he was wandering around the local mall when he saw a girl resembling Lovina. While wondering if she was Lovina, he ended up walking straight into a pole. At the sound of his surprised cry of pain, the girl in question looked towards his direction. To Antonio's dismay, she wasn't Lovina and in fact, looked far too different to be her.

Lovina was more pretty...err...that's not the point.

There were more similar stories to that one, but Antonio refused to recall them. They were simply _that_ horrible.

"Ugh...can you guys stop embarrassing me? Because I'll kick you guys out of my unit if you keep on doing this." He groaned as he hid his face in his hands.

"Lovina, huh? Are you sure you're over her?" Gilbert asked in a serious tone, putting down the controller.

"What's this all about?" Antonio blinked at them, moving his hands away from his face.

"Well, you seemed distracted lately. Are you alright?" Francis patted Antonio's shoulders.

For a moment, he considered Francis' question. He was a bit more distracted than usual, but he considered himself to be alright. He could still do the things he was supposed to do. He's still a normal functioning human being in all aspects. But, Antonio had to admit that he couldn't help but to think of Lovina.

He wasn't sure if that was considered normal but all he does know is that he still cares for her, even though they weren't in speaking terms. During his spare time, he would reflect on his thoughts and feelings towards her:

 _Was he missing Lovina?_ Of course!

Before they became lovers, they were friends. Antonio missed the times they spent together. Even though their relationship was on the rocks because of their numerous fights before, he would still miss her. Those feelings haven't changed even after their break up.

 _Did he want to be with Lovina again?_ That's something he can't answer with certainty until now.

In the beginning of their relationship, Antonio thought they could make things work. He knew that they both loved each other, but it turned out that feelings of love wasn't enough to make their relationship last. Antonio knew that the reason why they broke up was because of their own issues. Truth to be told, he was insensitive and he couldn't pick up hints that Lovina was throwing at him. On the other hand, Lovina still had trust issues with others in general and couldn't vocally share majority of her problems and issues with him. They both couldn't see things eye to eye and in the end, the magic of their relationship stopped.

 _Did he blame himself or Lovina?_ No.

Lovina's past circumstances was something she couldn't control. It wasn't her fault for being tight-lipped about herself or for unintentionally pushing him away. Antonio also knew that his slow uptake on his surroundings will always be a part of him and that his negative feelings during their relationship were all part of the experience. Both of them have imperfections, but they couldn't cope with each other as much as they had wanted to.

 _Did they love each other any less?_ Of course not!

Antonio loved Lovina and he was sure Lovina loved him as much as he had. Even though there had bad times together, they still had a couple of good memories together. He both valued both of those experiences and wouldn't want to change anything.

 _Is he over her?_ He wasn't sure.

But he knows that he wants all the best for Lovina, no matter what. He wanted to know whether she's doing fine and that she's not doing stupid stuff just like what he went through recently. Although...he was prone to doing those already.

The same with goes for his friends - he knows that his friends wanted the best for him. He gave them a smile and shook his head. Antonio knew that they were both worried for him and that they were trying to look out for him in their own way. Although he thought nothing of it first, but he now suspects that this weekly "gaming night" is their way on checking on him.

"I'm alright." He said as he stood up from the couch.

"You know, you can tell us anything if you have something on your mind." Francis gave him a nudge.

"We'll _try_ to keep it a promise." Gilbert offered while Francis shot him a look.

"It's nothing. It's just that...I wonder how she is from time to time. I've accepted that we broke up and all, but I do think of her once in a while."

The two men looked at each other and then back to Antonio.

"I've seen her with one of the girls I used to going out with," Francis spoke up. "She seems fine. She's still anti-social for the most part, but she gave me a nod when she saw me."

"Me too. I bumped into her at the middle high building. She was with Feliciano and my little bro. She still gets a bit naggy over Ludwig, but she's okay. If she has the energy to do that, I can't see why she'd be all gloomy." Gilbert shared.

"I see," Antonio smiled. "That sounds like her, alright."

"Hey, all of this gloomy chat has made me hungry. What food do you have 'Tonio?" Gilbert asked, pushing his friends towards the kitchen.

"Should I cook tonight? We'd have to go out again if I'll be cooking." Francis offered.

"I'll drive us to the nearest supermarket." Antonio said as he grabbed his keys.

Admittedly, he still feels kind of sad that he and Lovina aren't talking to each other, but as long as she was fine - he'd accept their current situation and let things run in its own pace. As for him, Antonio knew he'd be alright no matter what happens. After all, he had his friends to back him up whenever he's feeling down on the dumps. Even before he had met Lovina, Gilbert and Francis have been together with him through thick and thin.

And he hopes that Lovina had someone to rely on during these times, just like how he relies on his friends.

 **End of the Chapter**

 **A/N: Hi guys. Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate it OHOHOHON~**

 **Just a little trivia about this whole story - it's loosely based from my own experiences, which is why this story mostly centers the thoughts of Lovina and Antonio rather than other people's perspective. Some parts of the story are from my reflections from my...** **questionable** **love life.**

 **Once again, please bear with my amateur writing skills. With that said, reviews are always appreciated.**


	3. Incompatible Compatibility

**Disclaimer:** This chapter contains: (1) foul language; (2) tea-driven slight OC-ness of some characters; and (3) Writer's block induced storytelling.

You have been warned.

* * *

 **Incompatible Compatibility**

 **\- 3 -**

It was already Christmas Eve.

Lovina tried to enjoy the cup of strawberry mint tea that she had ordered an hour ago. The tea had grown cold and not to mention, she accidentally over-steeped the tea. Even though the tea was still fragrant, the flavors became too strong. As a result, the tea tasted a tad bitter for her personal taste. Also, she wasn't sure why but the tea gave her some sort of mental kick.

Lovina looked at her wrist watch – it was already eight in the evening. She had been staying in the cafe for over two hours. Feliciano, her younger brother, had promised to meet her at six to do some last minute Christmas shopping for their parents and grandparents. She hasn't heard anything from Feliciano...partly because her phone's battery died half an hour ago.

Normally, she'd be bored to death and feel sleepy from all the waiting, but instead she just felt relaxed. She was still annoyed by her brother's tardiness, but not angry to the point of ditching him. All the same, she still wondered if she should still wait for him in the cafe or use a public payphone to contact him. Just as Lovina was about to consider leaving the cafe, a familiar male voice called out her name.

"Lovina?"

She paused at the sound of the male voice. That voice was begrudgingly familiar. She thought that she'd never encounter him for the rest of the year, let alone say hear him to say her name this close. After all, they haven't talked nor seen each other for more than a year after their break up. Lovina turned around to face Antonio, who had looked surprised at their chance encounter.

"Antonio."

"Uhm...fancy meeting you here." He began, running his hand through his tousled hair.

"I certainly didn't expect to meet you here." Lovina answered, looking at him in the eye.

"I just wanted to buy something here and maybe stay around for a bit." He explained.

"I see."

"What about you?" He asked, trying to make conversation with her.

"I was drinking tea." To make her point, she took a long sip of her tea.

"Ahh." He looked down, uncomfortable with their dry exchange as he stood awkwardly.

People were beginning to stare at them. Not wanting to attract further attention, Lovina invited him to take the vacant seat in front of her. Antonio let out a sigh of relief as he sat in front of her. For a moment, they averted their eyes from each other and remained silent. The awkward silence as well as her earlier impatience with Feliciano spurred her to re-initiate their conversation.

"What did you want to buy?" She asked nonchalantly.

"I heard their limited edition strawberry mint tea is good, so I wanted to try it." He replied.

"If you want, you can have the rest of mine." Lovina pushed her half drank tea towards Antonio.

Antonio hesitantly eyed the cup of tea. "Are you sure?"

"If you fancy a few drops of over-steeped tea, then suit yourself." She shrugged.

"I'm fine with that. Thank you." Antonio smiled at her.

The nostalgic sight of his smile surprised Lovina, catching her off-guard. She didn't think that it would be this soon that he'd show that expression towards her. After all, she was the one who broke up with him and cut off all ties with him. Her present actions weren't exactly one would call as accommodating. On the other hand, he treated her politely and respect despite her cold reception towards him. That aspect of him never changed and it irked Lovina.

"Oh give me that!" Lovina blurted out, grabbing the cup from Antonio.

Confused, he tried to ask what her intentions were. "What are you-

"Quit it, Antonio. Not a single word from you." Lovina glared at him.

Before the man could ask further, she stood from the table and went to the counter. The entire time she was ordering a fresh cup of strawberry mint tea, she felt Antonio's eyes on her. Later, she heard his astonished "Eh?!" after the barista delivered the said tea to their table as per her request. After paying for the new tea, she wordlessly went back to their table and acted that she did the most natural thing in the world.

"Wait, Lovi! You didn't have to pay for the tea!" He protested.

"I didn't do anything."

"Lovi, I saw you pay." He pointed out.

"I didn't do anything. You just probably saw a ghost pay." She rolled her eyes.

"A ghost can't pay for tea." He let out a frustrated huff.

"Then this whole thing isn't real."

"Lovi, I'm serious."

"I'm also serious."

"This is getting out of hand real quick."

"Our relationship got out of hand real quick too."

The mention of their previous relationship did the trick. It was now Antonio's turn to be surprised and speechless. Their short, but rather witty exchange gave Lovina a rush of adrenaline. She didn't know why, but she wanted to talk to him now. She had a lot of things to say, before and after their relationship, but she never had the chance or the desire to voice them out. She knew she _might_ never get the chance nor the courage to do this and mentally warned the unsuspecting man for the biggest and most honest relationship rant she was about to do.

And she was going to unleash the wrath of her rant towards him, whether he liked it or not.

"This always happens whenever we interact," Lovina continued as Antonio looked at her intently. "Why do you always have to give in to me? Can't you be your own person and put me in my place from time to time whenever I turn psycho-bitch on you?"

"Psycho-bitch..." He repeated.

"For me, I knew that I took advantage of you too. If God knows that, then so do you. I was selfish and used you at my disposal." She prattled on, shaking her head.

"This is so out of character." He blinked at her, mystified at her sudden talkativeness.

Ignoring his comment, she continued: "I also have my problems too. Ten years later, I still couldn't let go of that bullying bullshit. They didn't even recognize me when they saw me. One of them even called me pretty."

This time, Antonio did his share of talking. "Lovi, you can't expect yourself to suddenly feel happy seeing them. It was also my fault for not sensing your discomfort with them."

"I should have told you-

"I should have been more concerned when you acted so differently back then. But I was too busy being happy on my own." He cut me off.

"There's nothing wrong being happy, you idiot." She muttered.

"But we were in a relationship." He reasoned out.

"That doesn't mean that you had to take the blame for what I felt towards them." Lovina pointed out.

Both of them stared at each other as if calculating each other's answers. As they became silent, Antonio halfway drank the strawberry mint tea, while Lovina observed his actions. After drinking a considerable amount of the said tea, he seemed faintly agitated and yet excitable, similar to what she was feeling.

Between both of them, Antonio was the more honest of them. She had always been reserved one. Today, he seemed more opinionated than usual. Maybe it was the subtle boost of caffeine from the tea that gave them the push to talk to each other this way, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that they were finally talking properly, face to face. She was sure that Antonio felt the same way as her.

They both wanted answers.

This time, Antonio started his counterattack.

"Lovi," He said her name and then abruptly paused. "Oh wait, I've been calling you 'Lovi' the whole time haven't I?"

"I don't mind." Lovina impatiently waved it off.

"Lovi, we were supposed to be a team. I was supposed to cover for you whenever you felt unhappy." He said.

"I have to deal with my own shit."

"Couldn't I have given you support? I know I can't always deal with your issues but you can always count on me to be there."

"I...I actually haven't thought of that." Lovina admitted. "I was just caught up with all of that bad stuff, I guess."

Antonio paused again and drank the rest of tea before speaking up again, "I haven't been completely honest with you too."

"Yeah?" She looked at him.

"I just...let all my frustrations towards you build up until that day. I had enough and I wanted to get away from all of these." He scratched his head in a frustrated manner.

"We both wanted out and here we are right now." Lovina absentmindedly took Antonio's emptied cup and played with it.

This time, they sat in a companionable silence for a few minutes. Both of them pondered about what they just talked about. It was something hard to take all in, but not too difficult for them to agonize themselves with. Lovina looked at Antonio, and Antonio looked at her in return.

"Say Lovi, I have always wondered..." He gently placed his hand on hers. "Was our relationship that bad?"

"I don't...I don't know for sure." She mumbled, tensing from his touch.

"I had fun. How about you?" He pushed on.

"I suppose? We were so incompatible before that I'm _still_ unsure of what to fucking right now." She moved her hand away.

"That's not a clear answer." He asked.

"What do _you_ think?" She countered, answering his question with another question.

"I'd say...we're compatibly incompatible?"

"What the actual fuck does that mean?!" She slapped his arm.

"Why don't we find out?" Antonio gave her a smile.

 ** _The End?_**

Before Lovina could answer, Feliciano appeared. From his dishevelled appearance, he looked like he ran a marathon (minus the sweat), but for the most part he looked surprised at the sight of her talking to Antonio. Before he could explain why he was late and ask why her sister hadn't been replying to his messages, he looked back and forth between the two and said, "Am I interrupting something? Because I can do the christmas shopping on my own right now and catch up with you two later."

"Just one more thing and we'll be done. Is that okay?" Antonio asked.

"Sure." Feliciano blinked.

Antonio turned to Lovina. "This sounds crazy, but do you want to give us another chance? As in have dates and all."

"W-What?!" She spluttered, blushing wildly.

In the background, Feliciano let out a silent "Ohhh!".

"No?" Antonio pouted.

"Are you insane?! Didn't we establish that we're already incompatible?"

"Compatibly incompatible." Antonio corrected her.

"I'd say both of you have a hundred percent incompatible compatibility this Christmas eve." Feliciano grinned.

"Shit Feli, don't butt in. You have some serious explaining to do as to why you're two and a half hours late. This is partially your fault." She glared at her brother.

"V-Veh...!"

"And you," Lovina pointed at Antonio while blushing. "I'll...I'll think about it."

 **The (True) End!**

 **A/N:** Happy holidays guys! I hope everyone is enjoying the last few days of the year. Cheers to another year filled with surprises. Cheers to the first fanfic story I finished LOL.

And most importantly, cheers for reading up to this point! This may seem to be rushed yeahiguessitwasrushed *cough but I tried my best. Once again, reviews are always appreciated.


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